Thursday night the weather was fine as the late summer sun went down over downtown Amesbury. The smell of Flatbread Pizza cooking in wood fired ovens was in the air, as well as the mellifluous tones of three old friends making music. This year makes our 43rd of playing traditional music together. Many thanks to the Amesbury Chamber of Commerce for featuring us in the final outdoor concert of the Summer Music Series.
The end of summer finds us with many upcoming gigs. Among these is an appearance on the Hanover Street stage at the first ever NH Irish Fest in Manchester, NH. Hope to see some familiar faces at some of these events
Saturday 8/19, New Boston (NH) Farmers Market, 10-1
Friday 8/25, NH Irish Festival, 5-6 PM on the Hanover Street stage
Saturday 8/26, Haverhill (MA) Farmers Market, 10-1
Thursday 8/31, Amesbury Summer Music, 6-8, Al Capp Amphitheater
Saturday 9/2, 12-4, Cider Hill Farm, Amesbury MA
Saturday our trio will be in the the green, green grove of the Bradford Common, 10 Church Street, this summer’s home for the Haverhill Farmers Market. The vendors open at 9. Music begins at 10.
The program for the Amesbury Summer Concert Series is out. Look for us at the end of August.
Winter is a quiet season for the Plough. We are looking forward to our first gig of 2023 at the indoor Milford Farmers Market at the end of the month. But we’ve each been keep busy musically.
Dave recently went into the recording studio, Majestic Music in Hampton Falls, NH, to work on some original tracks by local musician Brian Zudeck. The four songs are in post-production now, so stay tuned for a release announcement. Dave has also begun work on an album of coal mining songs in honor of his grandfathers and features many of his musical friends. More on this later.
Bill keeps busy with sessions in various places, and he always makes times for bird watching.
Patrick is working on a project to preserve recordings he made of Allan Block’s weeks long fiddle workshop at the Music Emporium in 1986. At that time he used a mono Panasonic cassette recorder to capture repertoire. The six cassettes sat for decades in a box until a recent conversation with Sarah Jane Nelson, author of an article on Allan’s life and work in the Fall 2014 edition of Fiddler Magazine, got the project in motion. Here is another article by Sarah Jane in tribute of Allan. Tune back in for updates.
Allan Block leading a fiddle workshop at Pat’s Peak for the NH Folk Festival 1978
Front left to right Caroline Parrot, Brad Dorsey, Patrick Hornig, Allan (standing)
Best wishes to all our friends for 2023!
We are excited to be playing music for the Amesbury Open Studios event this Sunday. Fiddler Melinda Kerwin will join us as we play at the Amesbury Town Hall from 11 am to 2 pm Sunday, Nov 13.
How great to perform in the historic mills of Amesbury recently, as we played for a private business event. Some of our tunes are older than this building and some would have been known by the builders and workers in this well crafted workplace of the 19th Century.
We had a great time at a contra dance in Georgetown, MA, last Saturday. And we were joined by fiddler Melinda Kerwin, and caller Gail Wood, which made the event even more fun.
Speed the Plough 